advisory Archives - THOM GIBSON

10 Nov 2020

Messages From Middle-Schoolers in 2020

Every year I have students complete the following statement: Dear world… This year given the circumstances, we did it virtually via Zoom. See a video where I walk through a little more in-depth how I set this project up if you're interested in doing it with your students - https://youtu.be/ssrrGDw_6nE The project is inspired by a photography project by Robert Fogarty.Learn more about the project at http://dearworld.com/ https://youtu.be/GocHwxgYIbE

24 Aug 2018

Dear World…Messages From Middle Schoolers

Each year I do a project inspired by Robert Fogarty's Dear World project (http://dearworld.me/) where I ask students to share what their message to the world would be. Here's what this year's group had to share... Music by Kloudink - https://soundcloud.com/kloudink https://youtu.be/N1QHMOQTv8U

15 Jan 2018

Post 13 – Are You Buddies w/ Your Students?

Our first prompt of the new semester: How well do you get to know your students? What do you to establish both personal connections and boundaries? The school I'm at now prioritizes teacher-student relationships a fair bit more than previous schools I've worked in or visited. We're on the first name basis with students, we have a school-wide 3-day relationship-building retreat, and advisory is much more than just a homeroom to take attendance. Relationships aren't just things that are talked about, but the culture of the school actually creates those opportunities to foster relationships. TEACHING 5TH GRADE In my previous…

23 Oct 2017

Post 08 – Student Led Conferences

No reflection last week (actually two weeks ago) as we had our annual retreat called 'The Forward.' It was the first Forward in 3 years that I wasn't busy running around filming stuff. It was nice to leave the camera at home and not constantly be wondering 'is there anything else I could be filming.' This upcoming week we have student led conferences. Here's our prompt for the week: We have student led conferences this week. What do you feel we do well when it comes to the conferences? What is missing from them? Do you have any stories of…

27 Aug 2017

Post 01 – First Week Pre-Algebra, Robotics, and Advisory Activities

Well as part of my goals this year, I'd like to continue to blog every week as a reflective practice in my middle school math & robotics classes. This is my 7th year in the classroom, 4th year teaching middle school math & robotics, and 3rd year doing weekly blogs. I'm impressed by the number of teachers doing the #teach180 initiative where teachers write a DAILY reflection. Some will do an Instagram or Twitter post and that'll suffice. I'm going to be less worried about the presentation aspect of these blogs this year; I'm not spending time on cover photos…